Anxiety and Acupuncture Point HT-7BY Avihai Wolczak

How do the ancient Chinese writings refer to Anxiety and what can we learn from it on Ht-7?

When anxiety is spoken of in Chinese medicine, this refers in most cases to the ideograph 驚, Jung. It is somewhat surprising that this ideograph, unlike most ideographs that express "emotion", does not contain within it the ideograph of the heart, 心. The structure of the ideograph hints at a contradiction between something stable and something that is restless. The contradiction within the ideograph is compatible to the meaning that stems from it – some inner movement of detachment, a kind of turmoil. It can be a very small, almost imperceptible movement, but it can also be a large and paralyzing movement, a movement that stems from inability to maintain the unity between Yin and Yang, between the essences and the Spirits.

The state that is called anxiety is always a pathological state (unlike other emotions such as fear, anger or sadness, which express a natural movement, which becomes pathological only if it is too weak or too strong). The "anxiety" can harm almost any internal organ, but its effect on the XIN ("heart") is stressed. For instance, from chapter 39 of the Su Wen: "When there is "anxiety", the Qi is in "disorder",亂 , Luan. When there is "anxiety", the XIN has no place to turn to, the Spirits have no place to return to, the "planning ability",慮 , has no place in which to settle / focus, and so the Qi is in "disorder". "Disorder", Luan, is a condition in which there is no ability to rule, a state of anarchy, i.e. damage is caused to the connection between the Caesar and the kingdom, between XIN, the heart, and the other parts of the body.

In Chapter 21 of the Su Wen there is a paragraph that explains various conditions of perspiration that are related to the five Zang and to the WEI ("stomach"). In relation to the heart, it says: "Anxiety removes the essences, Jing, and causes perspiration of XIN". The classic interpreter Wang Bing explains: "Anxiety robs the essences of the heart. As a result, the Qi of the Spirits emerges to the surface and leaves (the heart)…"

The two quotations demonstrate how the condition that is called anxiety disturbs the Spirits, disturbs the Shen. The name of HT-7 is 神 門, Shen Men, "the gateway of the Spirits". This name indicates a direct effect on the Shen point. The name of the acupuncture points is indicative of their energetic essence, i.e. their specific characteristic in relation to the regulation of the body's Qi. In the case of HT-7, its energetic essence stems from being the source point of the XIN and its earth point. Of the source points it has been said in Chapter 1 of the Ling Shu and in Chapter 66 of the Nan Jung, that they treat illnesses of the organ. This means that HT-7, as the source point, will know how to treat a variety of pathologies that directly damaged the deep Qi movements of the XIN. Such damage can be caused by many reasons. One possible reason, as we have seen, is anxiety. As implied by its name, HT-7 has the specific ability to enable the Spirits to regain control over managing the movement of life in the body, to return the correct order of things, to stop the anarchy. The present of the Spirits in the body enables a deep regulation of life, life the regulation that is received by the effect of the sun's warmth on Earth, warmth that enables prosperity and blossoming, laughter and joy.

To conclude, I wish to add my personal opinion: since the HT-7 point has such a profound and primary effect on the movement of life in the body, it should be treated with proper respect, and it is important to understand that it should not be used frequently. I recommend that it shouldn’t be referred to symptomatically (and to that matter, neither should any other point), such as "a point for calming the soul", or "a point for treating anxieties", but rather it should be used only when its energetic essence is needed - when there is a need to return the effect of the Shen to the body, the effect of the warming quality of the Fire Phase.

* Avihai Wolczak, researcher of the ancient Chinese writings and teacher of the "Golden Gate" course. The next course will open in Tel-Aviv on the 1.3.15, on the subject of the Tree Phase, meridians and the acupuncture points of the liver and the gall bladder.